Though the Kansas Legislature isn't due to vote on education funding until after it reconvenes April 29, local schools have begun girding for a reduction.

Jesse Truesdale - The Hutchinson News - jtruesdale@hutchnews.com

Monday

Apr 20, 2009 at 12:01 AMApr 20, 2009 at 6:00 PM

The Cunningham school board decided earlier this month the district's grade school and high school will operate on a four-day week next year in order to save money on busing, utility and some labor costs.

"Some of it is due to less money from the state," said Superintendent Glenn Fortmayer, and some of it is due to declining enrollment, which as of now is at the full-time equivalent of 173.5 students.

"We have been operating a little over budget due to trying to maintain staff at the current level," he said.

The change will mean an annual savings of $45,000, Fortmayer said.

At least 11 school districts in the state have adopted four-day school weeks, with Kiowa County school districts Haviland USD 474 and Mullinville USD 424 approving the change for 2009-10 in March.

Also considered by the Cunningham board was the alternative of changing to a shorter school year, with longer hours per day, from 7:55 a.m. to 4 p.m.

A survey conducted before the board's April 13 meeting, when the new schedule was approved, showed a 5-to-1 ratio of parents supporting the four-day week schedule instead, with the school day beginning at 8 a.m. and ending at 3:50 p.m.

The schedule for next year will include several five-week days, Fortmayer said, and the term will be Aug. 24 to May 26.

Both schedules would meet the state's minimum requirement of 1,116 hours, and though the survey wasn't sent to students, Fortmayer said the ratio of those in favor of the shorter week "is probably higher with students" than it was for their parents.

Besides saving money, the schedule offers other advantages, Fortmayer said, including giving teachers an extra day for planning on the weekends, and allowing for medical and other appointments to be kept without missing school.

Before deciding on the new schedule, Fortmayer said the district researched other districts of similar size in the state and around the country.

"All the districts we talked to said, regardless of the money, they wouldn't go back," Fortmayer said. "The quality of instruction increases because of planning and fringe benefits."

Other cost-cutting measures the district has adopted include consolidation of its preschool program at the main office instead of at satellite locations, and reducing one staff position that had been filled by a retiree.

In the Fairfield School District, the schedule change will be felt sooner, with school set to let out May 15, a week earlier than scheduled. The earlier date will mean a savings of about $8,000 for the 318-student district, said Superintendent Mary Treaster.

The state's minimum of instruction hours will still be met, and the cut is possible because the district didn't use all its snow days, despite the heavy snow in late March that cost it one day of classes.

The extra week will be used for in-service training for teachers, whose last day for the year will remain the same, May 22.

Treaster said she expected enrollment to increase by 10 and for state funding to be reduced by between $80,000 and $130,000.

In February the Dighton School District board of education approved shortening the current year to end May 1, which had previously been set for May 22.

The change, which included lengthening the school day by 25 minutes beginning in February, will have saved the 255-student district between $20,000 and $30,000, Superintendent Angela Lawrence said.

The district's instruction hours will still meet the required minimum and even exceed it by 43 hours. The shorter year was possible in part as a result of unused snow days, she said.

Lawrence described a stressful week preceding the decision, in which her office had received in the course of three days three different projections in the reduction of the state's base per-pupil aid, ranging from $22 to $66.

"We basically had no idea what they were going to do," Lawrence said. "... We wanted to try to build cash reserves, not knowing what the next two years will hold."

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